Being a "Bee" in a No Can Do World

How many times has someone told you, “You can’t do this.” or “That just isn’t for you.”? This is what was told to the class of 1940 in Maya Angelou’s “Graduation”. Their speaker, a white man, was telling them that they would probably be no more than “maids and farmers, handymen and washerwomen, and anything higher that [they] aspired to was farcical and presumptuous (46).” For someone to say something like this to me on the day of my graduation would be than upsetting. How can you tell someone what they are capable of being when you do not their mind or their capabilities? A person’s mind is like a workshop. There are so many tools in it and so many creations are waiting to be made. The greatest part of her essay was when Henry Reed, the class valedictorian, got up and read his “To be or Not to be” speech. His speech gave others hope and made them believe that they were capable of being doctors and nurses like the white kids. His spirit and strength to say these things right after the man spoke was also encouraging to me. When someone tells you that you can’t or shouldn’t be doing something, go out and do it to prove them wrong. We all are different people with different potential. If we don’t go out and do, who will?

What's Love Got To Do With It?

In Chief Seattle's letter to President Pierce, Seattle showed as much love to his land as does many people do to their own families. To Seattle, it wasn't just land that the President was asking him to give up, it was also a piece of himself.

Many Americans today do not realize how much sweat and tears was put into making this country what it is today. Most of those tears came from people just like Seattle. Seattle, a Native American, was asked to give up his land and part of his life for our country.

How many people could give up something they loved to someone who wasn't as passionate about it as they were? I couldn't. To know that the "white men" basically abused the land and took it and its inhabitants for granted worsened the situation.

Seattle showed much decency when he agreed to give the land away. All that he asked for in return was that the "white men" treat [his] land as they do their own brothers.

I, personally, applaud Seattle for taking such a big risk because without the land that he gave up, this country might not be as good as it is today. So again I say, "What does love really have to do with it and if it was you, could/would you have done the same thing?"